²¹ They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the gentiles to forsake Moses and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs.

¹⁹ For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might gain all the more.^{(A) 20} To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to gain Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might gain those under the law. ²¹ To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not outside God’s law but am within Christ’s law) so that I might gain those outside the law.^(B)

¹² It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who try to compel you to be circumcised—only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.^{(A) 13} Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. ¹⁴ May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which^[a] the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.^{(B) 15} For^[b] neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but a new creation is everything!^(C)

5 ¹ For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.^(A)

The Nature of Christian Freedom

² Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that, if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. ³ Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. ⁴ You who want to be reckoned as righteous^[a] by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.^{(B) 5} For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.^{(C) 6} For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working^[b] through love.^(D)

²⁸ shouting, “Fellow Israelites,^[a] help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place; more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”^(A)

¹⁹ “Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those gentiles who are turning to God, ²⁰ but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from sexual immorality and from whatever has been strangled^[a] and from blood.^{(A) 21} For in every city, for generations past, Moses has had those who proclaim him, for he has been read aloud every Sabbath in the synagogues.”^(B)

¹⁸ Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.^{(A) 19} Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but obeying the commandments of God is everything.^(B)

Do Not Judge Another

14 Welcome those who are weak in faith^[a] but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions.^{(A) 2} Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables.^{(B) 3} Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat, for God has welcomed them. ⁴ Who are you to pass judgment on slaves of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord^[b] is able to make them stand.

⁵ Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. ⁶ Those who observe the day, observe it for the Lord. Also those who eat, eat for the Lord, since they give thanks to God, while those who abstain, abstain for the Lord and give thanks to God.^(C)

Paul and Jewish Leaders in Rome

¹⁷ Three days later he called together the local leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them, “Brothers,^[a] though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, yet I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.^(A)